Gas Prices 1947

T

Tug

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Comment made in 1947....i never thought gas prices would reach 25 cents, i might as well leave my car in the garage and walk. .......... Just think of all the boating we could do if these were today's gas prices.Tug






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I can remember thinking that my Dad was really cheap. We would drive to my Grandmothers house and he would drive miles out of the way to get gas at a couple of stations in Missouri at 18 or 19 cents a gallon. That was in 1960. How soon I forget and how wrong I was.
Once at my Grandmothers house one of my uncles visited at the same time and was bragging to my father about driving from Sacramento California to Poplar Bluff Missouri for under $20.00. My Dad told him that he did not think anyone would ever buy a car that was that small and that light weight. He was talking about a French car called a Renault Daulphine. It got about 45 miles per gallon in 1960. My Dad loved Chrysler New Yorkers.
Great days and great memories.
 
I can remember back in the early 1960's, when I was in junior high and high school, I paid 25 to 30 cents for regular gas. They would have gas wars and the price would get down to 15 to 20 cents a gallon. They brought out unleaded gas at that time and no one would buy it - they could not give it away - so they stopped selling it. It was cheaper than regular gas. Years later, when the government made unleaded gas mandatory, it was more expensive than regular gas.
 
well I'll burst the bubble ... filled my gallon gas can $7.50 at $1.29 a litre ..before metric we had the imperial gallon .. dumped my boat and truck couple years back not getting enough out of it for the cost .. wc
 
A friend of mine worked in the petroleum industry as a chemical engineer when unleaded gas was being introduced. Unleaded cost more at the time. I asked him how leaded and unleaded was different. He said, while turning his hand clockwise, we just shut the valve off that adds lead to the fuel. I asked him "if you are taking raw materials out of a product which costs you less to make, shouldn't it cost less to the consumer since it costs you less to make? Why are you charging more for unleaded?" His reply was "because we can".
 
I've wondered what the cost of gasoline is as it relates to inflation from some of the earlier time periods being discussed. 20 cents a gallon sounds cheap until you realize that it was common for folks to make 50 cents an hour in 1947.
CV
 
forrest":17qzgg1v said:
A friend of mine worked in the petroleum industry as a chemical engineer when unleaded gas was being introduced. Unleaded cost more at the time. I asked him how leaded and unleaded was different. He said, while turning his hand clockwise, we just shut the valve off that adds lead to the fuel. I asked him "if you are taking raw materials out of a product which costs you less to make, shouldn't it cost less to the consumer since it costs you less to make? Why are you charging more for unleaded?" His reply was "because we can".
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I believe that two things happened at the time - 1) Manufacturers of gasoline had to add more expensive additive to bring the octane up and 2) Engines were redesigned to work on lower octane. The first accounts for the increase in price.
 
cruiserlessvinny":3vgmraxt said:
I've wondered what the cost of gasoline is as it relates to inflation from some of the earlier time periods being discussed. 20 cents a gallon sounds cheap until you realize that it was common for folks to make 50 cents an hour in 1947.
CV
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That information is available many places online - for example - here.
 
We returned from a nice vacation trip to the Cook Islands (Rarotonga) a couple weeks ago. I think about 32 miles to drive around the island, nice that our little rental Suzuki got good milage and the top speed limit was 40 KPH because the price of gasoline worked out to about $16 US per gallon. Of course just about everything was shipped in with the exception of coconuts, black pearls and very few other things. They seemed to have everything you could want, but you had to steady yourself when you checked the price. Great place and wonderful folks!
Rich
 
If they raise the minimun wage to a $ 1:00 nobody will be able to hire outside help to work in the restaurant.....check out the food prices on the billboard. Some of these comments are from 1955 , maybe the gas price is also from 1955


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Fast Food restaurants are convenient but they will never catch on..

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Got out of USMC 1951( $80.00 per month), drew unemployment $26.00 per week, got apprentice pipefitter job $1.36 per hour. Got married 1953, $1.63 per hour, got journey-man license 1955 $2.50 per hour, bought nice 15 year old home in 1956 $14.500, $80.00 a month including insurance& taxes.

First child 1956, she spent 5 days in hosp. Cost $250.00. Doc. bill $65.00.
Life was good. :D C-Otter
 
I was paying around 17 cents a gallon when I first started buying my own fuel.
I think of greed when I think of big oil. My way to fight back

I bought a chevy volt last week.

So far close to 200 miles and my only fuel used was just under a gallon. Now I am leaving the car plugged in at the office and home. My local driving needs are met with electricity and I am loving it.

Its a start. I will be able to save around $300 a month in my fuel bill. Hope the technology finds its way to pickups and boats.
 
If fuel weren't so heavily taxed we wouldn't be paying so much for it. I don't recall the exact percentages as to what the taxes are but they are pretty hefty; a whole lot more than what Big Oil makes on a gallon of gasoline.

If I were to spend my time thinking about greed I would have to include governments never-ending quest for more and more tax dollars.
CV
 
I remember that we always purchased Ammaco White gas for our two stroke outboards. This was in the 60's and the Mercury dealer said that it was worth the extra. It was considered a premium gas. All the stock outboard racers used it. Some racers used castor oil instead of regular outboard oil. My dad said he felt that the Mercury outboard oil was the best and we never had a problem.
 
There is government taxes on gas and most items produced and taxes paid again on most items when sold. There is the also a difference in prices due to additives required in different areas. All business passes the costs on to the next in line. What is left for the station owner is a pittance because at the station level of the industry it is very competitive. The consumer ends up footing the bill.

Government is giving some incentives to get off the dino fluid. There is the tax savings of up to $7500 on the volt. Consumer benefits on this one.

But when you look at successful companies if success is measured by profits, then big oil tops the list. They will get away with it until there is some serious competition.

We the consumer are at big oil's mercy and are kept in check by them. Look at how gas prices has effected (besides everything) the auto industry. Everyone wanted power and big cars then gas hit $4 a few years ago and the car industry was sitting on inventory that they could not give away. Some how gas price dropped about $1.50 and then our short memories were back to powerful motors and big cars. Deja vu we are back price wise and I see a lot of powerful cars on showroom displays. Is the new threshold for price resistance now at $6.00 per gallon. I think in what life I have left, I will see $10.00 per gallon. Not to hard to project this kind of price increase when you started at 17 cents per gallon.

For now I have close to 300 miles on my new volt and fuel use is the same less than one gallon of gas. When I leave town and the car switches to fuel mode gas mileage is estimated to be 37 mpg. But it is so empowering to not have to purchase fuel I may try harder to shop at home. Its time to go check the surf.

Yahoo I don't need gas to do it.

Jeff
 
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